APA to correct manual: Pedophilia is not a ‘sexual orientation’

Pedophilia is not a “sexual orientation,” and erroneous use of that phrase will be corrected soon in its new manual on mental illnesses, the American Psychiatric Association said Thursday.

The APA’s statement came in response to media inquiries, including from The Washington Times, about an uproar on the Internet that the APA had designated pedophilia as a sexual orientation in its new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, known as DSM-5 or DSM-V.

About a week ago, a blog called NeonTommy, produced at Annenberg Digital News at the University of Southern California, said the APA had drawn a “very distinct line” between pedophilia and pedophilic disorder in its new manual.

According to the DSM-5, pedophilia “refers to a sexual orientation or profession of sexual preference devoid of consummation, whereas pedophilic disorder is defined as a compulsion and is used in reference to individuals who act on their sexuality,” NeonTommy wrote.

The item was picked up and circulated on countless other Internet sites. Many bloggers bashed the APA for “mainstreaming” deviance and capitulating to pro-pedophile groups. Others tied it to gay issues — one wag wrote that it was “time to change the LGBT letterhead to LGBT&P.”